Jallow earns National accolade, Jackson collects SEC honor

BIRMINGHAM – Becoming the third fastest collegian ever at 600m earned Arkansas sophomore Sanu Jallow the M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week accolade as announced by USTFCCCA on Tuesday.

Following the first meet of the season a pair of Razorback sprinters earned conference weekly honors with Shawnti Jackson being named Co-SEC Freshman of the Week and Jallow being selected as Co-SEC Runner of the Week.

The Arkansas pair each had their respective debut as Razorbacks. Jackson is a freshman from North Carolina while Jallow is a sophomore transfer from Texas A&M also from North Carolina.

“We knew these young ladies were talented, and I’m very excited with how they performed,” noted Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson. “Shawnti set a PR in the 400m and Sanu was here last year in the race when Britton broke the collegiate record and bettered her PR by four seconds. So, we’re on schedule to do some really good things.”

Jallow won the 600m at the Arkansas Invitational in a world leading 1:26.52, the third fastest time ever by a collegian to rank behind Britton Wilson’s collegiate record of 1:25.16 from 2023 and a 1:25.80 by Athing Mu of Texas A&M in 2021.

Mu won the Bowerman in 2021 while Wilson was a Bowerman finalist in 2023. Wilson received the National Athlete of the Week honor last year after setting the collegiate record in the 600m.

Jallow bettered the previous world leader for 2024 of 1:27.77 by Jamaica’s Leah Anderson. Jallow improved her previous best of 1:30.32 in placing fourth a year ago at the Arkansas Invitational when Britton set the collegiate record.

Splits for Jallow included 26.98, 29.72 [56.70], 29.82 [1:26.52] as she bettered the field by a couple of seconds. Oklahoma State’s Gabija Galvydyte finished second in 1:28.48. Earlier this season Galvydyte of Lithuania ran the mile in 4:33.29 at Boston in December.

“Going into this race last year I wasn’t as prepared as this year,” stated Jallow. “Last year I opened with a 1:30. This year, after transferring and coming into a new program, the workouts are hard, but it’s definitely worth it at the end. I came back and redeemed myself with a 1:26. I’m just so grateful.”

Jackson won the 400m at the Arkansas Invitational in a career best of 52.10 to register the U.S. and collegiate leader for the 2024 season while being second on the world list behind a 51.95 by Jamaica professional Leah Anderson from a meet at Clemson this past weekend.

“I did not expect that from my first meet,” said Jackson. “That’s a huge PR for me. It just shows where I’m at in training. In looking back at my race, I have a lot more improvement. So, it just shows I can do a lot this year.”

The 18-year-old Jackson moves to No. 10 on the world U20 all-time indoor list and No. 9 on the U.S. U20 all-time indoor list with her performance. Jackson improved her previous bests of 54.95 indoors and 52.13 outdoors while breaking the meet record of 52.16 set in 2007 by LaVerne Jones.

“We wanted to open up in the 400m to see her fitness level, and now we’ll move on to do some things in the future,” said Johnson. “I’m very excited about where she’s at and how she competed. She came back on the relay and ran a really, really good leg.”

Both Jackson and Jallow ran the anchor leg of separate Razorback 4 x 400m relays as Arkansas produced the fastest pair of times on the 2024 world list.

Jackson split 51.71 on the winning relay effort of 3:28.79 to break the meet record of 3:30.38 set by Arkansas in 2023. Meanwhile, Jallow split 51.91 on the runner-up 3:30.48.

The next best relay time so far this indoor season is a 3:32.07 by the third place squad in the Arkansas Invitational, a combination of Hurdle Mechanic and Captain Athletics professional athletes. The next best collegiate time so far this season is 3:33.37 by Georgia.

Arkansas will host the Razorback Invitational on January 26-27 at Randal Tyson Track Center.